The English Empire in America: Setting the Stage

1. The English Empire in America: Setting the Stage British Imperialism England under Elizabeth English relations w/ Spain English Charters to New World Settlers relations w/ Native population

3. New World at dawn of 17th C • Spain’s Empire in America: • Spanish stole Indian gold • Infected local population w/ disease • Enslaved native population • Crafted a sprawling empire (largest in the world) • Stretched from California to Florida to Central and South Am. • Diffused laws, customs and language • North America remained largely unexplored (1600) • European crops found throughout N. America- along eastern seaboard • Disease affected health of indigenous population • Several hundred thousand African slaves worked on sugar plantations (Caribbean and Brazil) • Yet: most of North America still laid unclaimed • Until…. The English

6. Major European Powers in N.America • Three Euro powers set foot in N.Amer.- led to over 100 years of conflict • Spanish at Santa Fe (1610) • French at Quebec (1608) • English at Jamestown (1607)

8. England in the 1500s • 1500s: England ruled by dysfunction; religious wars, violence between Cath. & Protestants • King Henry VIII broke from Catholic church; Reformation sparked rivalries in England and Ireland • English crushed Catholic uprising in Ireland; took Irish lands owned by Catholics; planted Protestant colonists in Ireland • “Many English soldiers developed in Ireland a sneering contempt for the ‘savage’ natives, an attitude that they brought w/ them to the New World” – pg 26, American Pageant

9. Elizabethan England • Elizabeth I crowned Queen in 1533 • No friend of Catholic Spanish King- Philip II • Encouraged the plunder of Spanish ships & settlements • Brazen act of overt aggression; most famous ‘pirate’ was Francis Drake • Philip II infuriated by thievery & demanded English ships be held accountable • Spanish Armada defeated in 1588- left England as sea power • Sir Walter Raleigh • Organized an expedition that landed on Roanoke Island (1585) • The expedition searched American mainland, dubbed land ‘Virginia’ after Elizabeth • They spied on Spanish defenses in Caribbean & returned to England

10. Subsequent Explorations • Colonists abandoned Roanoke Island (1586); left for England w/ Sir Francis Drake • John White led expedition (1587) leaving another group of people • Returned to England after granddaughter was born- Virginia Dare (first English child born in New World) • White returned in 1590, found no trace of colonists • George Weymouth searched (1605-1606) for suitable territory for English Catholics Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Francis Drake

11. Motivating Factors for English Emigration • Desire for profit; mineral wealth & investment wealth • Chance to start over- variety of opportunities & vast amounts of land • Religious freedom • Elizabethan Settlement (provided more rights to Protestants than Catholics) • English who wished Crown would purge/purify England of all Catholicism known as Puritans • Separatists left the Anglican Church in frustration w/ Elizabethan policies • Separatists had no hope Church could be salvaged • Migrated to Holland and later America- Pilgrims

13. Financing for Colonial Development • Four types of financing methods (for exploration & colonization) in 1500s • Trading Company or Joint Stock Company: Used individual investors to subsidize exploration; if something of value discovered it made money on investments • Company charters enabled owners to sell stock or shares to private investors • Covenant or Self-governing Colony: colonies created and governed by settlers (Rhode Island, Connecticut, Plymouth) • Proprietary Colony: One individual or group given by Crown the right to govern or settle a specified colony (Maryland)- gov’t formed could be any type but colonists had to be guaranteed basic English rights • Royal Colony: remained under Crown control- many of the colonies lost their separate status and reverted to Royal colonies by 1776

14. Chesapeake Colonies

15. Settlement of Virginia • London Company sent 3 ships to Chesapeake Bay who settled around Jamestown (April, 1607) • Plymouth Company landed 100 men in Maine (Aug, 1607)- later abandoned • Poor climate, famine, disease, antagonistic Indian population decimated colony to 32 • Cpt. John Smith elected President (1608) • Compulsory work program (“he who shall not work, shall not eat”) • Introduced self-sustaining agriculture • London Company turned company into Joint Stock company, with permission from Crown

16. Jamestown under Company Control • Several companies anxious to invest in Virginia • No import or export duties charged on goods to New World • Settlers were promised land after working for the company for up to seven years • John Rolfe (1612): introduced cash crop - tobacco • First shipment of crop to England (March, 1614) • Settlers w/ own land grew own tobacco; hurt Company financially • Smoking became popular in the King’s court (James I) & in England • Most profit from tobacco made from London merchants & investors

17. Chesapeake Bay and early Virginia Colonies; Jamestown Settlement to the right

18. From Company to Royal Colony • Sir Edwin Sandys gained control of company in 1618 • Introduced harsh legal code that was repealed in 1619 • Rights of Englishmen and Representative Assembly was put in place • General Assembly (Burgesses); Governor and Council met in Jamestown Church (Aug, 1619) • First legislature in the New World; representative gov’t • 1607-1619: 1,650 settlers left England for Virginia • 300 returned • Only 351 alive at the beginning of 1619 • Next five years: 8,000 immigrants; pop. Jamestown- 1,132 • Problems faced by Company Colony: • Financial problems; not enough profit • Virginia became first Royal Colony • Colonists retained rights of Englishmen • House of Burgesses continued to meet after 1629

19. Labor in Virginia • To encourage settlements- women were sent to colony (about 125 lbs of tobacco paid for a wife & passage) • Dutch ship stopped at Jamestown- left 20 black “indentured servants” • Labor shortages aided by indentured servants: • Person paying passage fee received land (from Crown)while one who migrated worked period of years • Food & shelter given, no wages • At end of service, servant was to receive cash or land or tools

20. Slavery in Virginia • First Africans in Chesapeake (1619)- status unclear • Slaves or indentured- the difference was blurred in early 16th C. • # of slaves increased • White colonists reacted to threats; put down possible racial threats • Slavery transformed from economic way of life to economic & racial institution • By mid-1680s- blacks outnumbered white indentured servants

21. Colonial Slave Codes • Beginning in 1662: • Made blacks (and children) property of white masters for life • It became a crime to teach slaves to read or white • Conversion to Christianity did not qualify slave for freedom • Virginian Law, 1662: “Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children got by any Englishmen upon a Negro shall be slave or Free, Be it therefore enacted and declared by this present Grand assembly, that all children born in this country shall be held bond or free only According to the condition of the mother." • Virginian Law, 1667: Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children that are slaves by birth [...] should by virtue of their baptism be made free, it is enacted that baptism does not alter the condition to the person as to his bondage or freedom; masters freed from this doubt may more carefully propagate Christianity by permitting slaves to be admitted to that sacrament.”

22. Atlantic Slave Trade

23. Powhatan Confederacy • Powhatan dominated few dozen tribes in James River area • English called these Indians Powhatans • Powhatan may have seen English as ally first, in desire to take control over other tribes in area

24. Culture Clash in the Chesapeake • 1614-1622: Peace between settlers & Powhatans • 1622-1644: periodic assaults made by both settlers & Powhatans • 1622: Indians attacked English, killing 347 (including John Rolfe) • Virginia Co. called for perpetual war vs. Natives • Raids reduced Native pop. & drove them westward

25. Failures of Original Promoters of Colony • Unrealistic goals: • No valuable commodity traded w/ Indians; settlers wanted gold • Survival Skills: • Area full of game, berries, fish • ‘Gentlemen’ who settled & sought only profit had no survival skills • Health Practices: • Settled in a marsh land • No Incentives for artisans & skilled laborers: • Profitable staple crops: • Tobacco discovered too late; other maladies already took toll • Relationship w/ Local Indians: • Constant instability, uprisings of Indians

26. The Settlement of Maryland • Royal charter granted to George Calvert (Lord Baltimore)- 1632 • Healthier location than Jamestown- tobacco would be main crop • Huge tracts of land granted to Catholic relatives • Toleration Acts of 1649: guaranteed rights of all Christian religions; decreed death to all those who denied Christ divinity • Black slaves imported by late 1600s

27. Southern Colonies • Maryland • Virginia • North Carolina • South Carolina • Georgia • Indentured Servitude • Slavery to work lrg plantations • Cotton, rice, tobacco • Fertile soil • Fewer urban areas: Baltimore, Savannah, Charleston

28. Settling the Carolinas • Charles II provided large land tracts to nobles who assisted him after English Civil War ended • Charles Town formed in 1670 by English & planters from Barbado • Large rice growing production using slave labor mirrored that in Barbados • Culture & economy resembled that of Barbados, rather than England

29. Culture and Location Carolinas kept close ties to West Indies- early settlers whites and blacks from islands Carolinas closer to Chesapeake, but culturally closer to W. Indies

30. Democratic N. Carolina • Small farmers from Va. And NE established farms in N. Carolina • Few good harbors & poor transportation • Fewer large plantations & fewer reliance on slavery • By 18th century, colony earned reputation as being democratic in nature & autonomous from Britain

31. Georgia • Proprietary colony: only one to receive direct financing from London • Set up to: • Defensive buffer • Rid England’s overcrowded jails of debtors • Special Regulations: • Ban on drinking rum • Prohibition of slavery • Colony did not thrive for constant fear of Spanish attack • Colony grew slowly: • Adopted plantation system of Carolinas • Dropped ban on slavery

32. Southern Colonies: Chart